Low perennial plants grow to no more than 18 inches in height and are useful in the front of a border, for edging, or in front of taller, leggy plants. Those marked with an asterisk (*) have the additional quality of spreading by forming mats or trailing across the ground and are useful in beds or as ground covers.
| Common Name | Botanical Name |
| Aster | Aster, some varieties |
| Basket-of-gold* | Aurinia |
| Bergenia* | Bergenia |
| Blanket flower | Gaillardia |
| Blue plumbago* | Ceratostigma |
| Carpathian harebell | Campanula carpatica |
| Coralbells* | Heuchera |
| Creeping baby’s breath* | Gypsophila repens |
| Dwarf bearded iris* | Iris, dwarf bearded |
| Evening primrose | Oenothera |
| Feverfew | Chrysanthemum parthenium |
| Geranium | Geranium |
| Globeflower | Trollius |
| Goldenstar* | Chrysogonum |
| Hardy chrysanthemum | Chrysanthemum hybrids, some varieties |
| Lady’s mantle* | Alchemilla |
| Lamb’s ears* | Stachys byzantina |
| Lungwort* | Pulmonaria |
| Meadowsweet* | Astilbe |
| Moneywort* | Lysimachia nummularia |
| Moss pink* | Phlox subulata |
| Pink* | Dianthus |
| Plantain lily* | Hosta |
| Primrose* | Primula |
| Sea pink* | Armeria |
| Siberian bugloss* | Brunnera |
| Stonecrop | Sedum |
| Wake robin | Trillium grandiflorum |
| Wormwood | Artemisia |
| Yarrow | Achillea ptarmica |
| Yellow archangel* | Lamiastrum galeobdolon |
| Grasses | |
| Blue lyme grass* | Glymus arenarius |
| Dwarf blue fescue | Festuca ovina ‘Glauca’ |
| Hakone grass | Hakonechloa macra* |